A dataset for monitoring agricultural drought in Europe

This paper introduces the Combined Drought Indicator dataset, a collection of raster maps generated by the Copernicus European Drought Observatory for monitoring agricultural drought in Europe. Computationally, the CDI involves three indicators: the Standardized Precipitation Index, the Soil Moisture Anomaly and the Fraction of the Photosyntetically Active Radiation anomaly. These are complemented by the use of crop and snow masks. The CDI dataset has a spatial resolution of 1/24 decimal degrees (∼5 km), a temporal resolution of 10 days and is available from 2012 onward. As drought effects are variegated both in space and time, the CDI provides an effective instrument for assessing the different stages of propagation of agricultural drought and their spatial extent. Furthermore, the CDI maps provide relevant information for those private and public actors (water resource agencies, farmers, land managers and so on) involved both in drought preparedness and planning to mitigate drought impacts. Users can access and download the dataset from the Copernicus European Drought Observatory web portal, where an online mapviewer and clickable maps facilitate its interactive exploration.